1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surgical saw for use in a bone cutting operation, and more particularly, to a reciprocating saw for use in cutting oral cavity bone, when an oral cavity bone cutting operation is performed by a linear reciprocation movement of the reciprocating saw blade without restriction within an approach direction.
2. Background Art
Reciprocating saws for surgical cutting operations of oral cavity bone are commonly used in plastic surgery. Since a bone cutting operation is preferably performed in a narrow space of the oral cavity, it is required to minimize the size of the reciprocating saw used therein. In addition, the optimization of bone cutting directions significantly affects the degree of difficulty, in a required limited time period, and pre-treatment for a surgical operation will also add to optimization of the procedure. However, a conventional surgical cutting saw does not provide such optimization of the surgical procedure.
As a conventional saw for surgical cutting operations, there are a sagittal saw, the saw blade of which is formed in the same direction as a handle thereof, as shown in FIG. 10, and an oscillating saw, the saw blade of which is formed to allow cuttings in a perpendicular direction with respect to a handle of the saw, as shown in FIGS. 11a and 11b even though the saw is installed the same direction as the handle thereof. The sagittal saw has a problem in that changing cutting directions is not easy and a large external cutoff portion is inevitable to ensure a certain space required for inserting a saw and cutting a bone because the approach direction of the saw is the same as the direction of cutting a bone. The oscillating saw also has a problem in that the efficiency of the cutting operation is low and determining the direction for bone cutting is extremely difficult to form a circular shape.
For example, when a protruding portion of a mandible 100 has to be removed by being cut in a circular shape, the sagittal saw has an excellent cutting force. However, as shown in FIG. 10, an additional cut-off portion 101 is required to be formed at an outer skin, which delays a recovery time period and makes the surgical operation more complicated. The oscillating saw is advantageous in that the pre-cutoff portion can be minimized by inserting the saw blade thereof after partially cutting the oral cavity (oral cavity cutoff portion 102). However, as shown in FIG. 11a, when an upper portion of the mandible is cut-off (at point p), the saw handle is caught by the oral cavity cutoff portion 102, which causes difficulty in determining directions and angles.
A typical oscillating saw is generally used when a bone cutting operation is performed in a direction of an angle different from the direction of the saw handle. However, if the angle is not perpendicular to the handle, i.e., if the angle is not 90° with respect to the handle, or a circular action is partially included, the cutoff operation is inefficient. (Referring to FIG. 11b, when the cutting operation is to be performed in x-axis direction, the efficiency of cutting operation is degraded since a circular action occurs, forming an arc at x-y surface.)